Five Bean Cassoulet with Calvados Lacquered Pheasant Recipe from Catersource 20133 Harmony Event

Five bean cassoulet
with calvados lacquered pheasant recipe

An Original Recipe provided by

Cade Nagy, Catering By Design, Denver, Colorado

Cassoulet Station

Served at the Catersource 2013 

Signature Monday Night Event
served hanging in miniature pails 
from a Wall of Flames at

Harmony at the Hard Rock Event

SPECS FOR BUILDING
WALL OF FLAME
AS SEEN AT HARMONY AT THE HARD ROCK
CATERSOURCE 2013

cassoulet station "wall of flames"
hanging in mini metal pails kept warm with votive candles

cassoulet sign on station

Five bean cassoulet
with calvados lacquered pheasant recipe Serves 24 Ingredients For the Cassoulet 1 cup fresh fava beans, cleaned and blanched 1 cup fresh English peas, shelled, shucked and blanched 1 cup edamame beans shucked and blanched ½ cup dry white beans cooked and drained ½ cup dry cattleman beans cooked and drained ½ yellow onion 2 cloves garlic peeled and minced fine 1 lg red tomato diced fine 1 stick unsalted butter 2 tbls olive oil 2 cups chicken stock 2 tbls sage diced fine 2 tbls tarragon diced fine 1 apple diced fine ¼ cup calvados ½ lb applewood smoked bacon diced fine
Instructions to prepare five bean Cassoulet In a medium sized sauté pan, cook bacon until it’s crispy. Remove from pan and drain on paper towels. Pour off grease from pan leaving about 2 tbls. Heat butter and oil until butter is melted. Add garlic and onion and cook for about 2 minutes on medium heat. Turn heat up to high and add calvados. Let it reduce down by half. Add beans, tomatoes and herbs. Cook for 1 minute. Add chicken stock and cook for another 2 minutes. Add apples to mixture right when ready to serve. Ingredients for preparing the pheasant 2 cups hot water 1 cup salt 1 cup sugar 4 cups apple juice 1 lemon Fresh herbs (any you have will do) 4 cloves garlic 2 pheasants, whole 2 apples, cut in half 1 stick butter, salted 2 cups calvados Instructions for preparing the pheasants In a large bowl, add the hot water, salt and sugar. Stir until dissolved. Add apple juice, garlic and herbs. Place pheasants in the brine and set in cooler for at least 24 hours or up to 48 hours. Remove from brine and pat dry inside and out. Set on a roasting rack. Stuff each bird with the apples and some more garlic. Place a few pats of butter under the breast skin. Rub the remaining butter on the outside of the bird. Place in a 375 degree oven and cook for about 1 hour. Each 15 minutes, open the oven door and baste the bird with the juice. Cook under breast are tender. Remove from oven and let set at room temp for 15 minutes. Begin to pull all of the meat from the bones and set aside. Meanwhile, place the calvados in a small sauce pan and bring to a boil. Let it reduce down to a third of what it was. Set aside. When ready to serve, heat the pulled pheasant meat in a sauce pan, add the calvados reduction and stir till heated. To build the pails or serve plated. Place some of the cassoulette into a serving dish and top with the pheasant meat. Top with garnish.

Party Like a Rock Star with CaterSource - Part I -

HARMONY
 @THE HARD ROCK CAFE
LAS VEGAS

photo:catersource.com

Catersource 2013 attendees 
rock Las Vegas at the Hard Rock Cafe -

....All Night Long....

Fab Food, 
Off the Hook Presentations 
and Trend Setting Ideas that WILL be replicated 
on catering menus Worldwide for years to come.


Party Like a Rock Star...  {part one}

There is a saying in our industry 
that no one knows how 
to party like Caterers do - 

Come take a peek at what happens 
when 1700 caterers and event specialists 
come together for 
Food, Love 
and Rock & Roll

Produced by Executive Producer Cade Nagy
 and Creative Director Dan Smith

As the guests entered Hard Rock from the Las Vegas Strip, they were greeted by servers offering a groovin' adult welcome cocktail.  The aptly named "Flower Power Cocktail" set the tone and mood, before getting on the escalator to the 2nd Level where the Food Stations, Bars and Entertainment began.

Flower Power Cocktail

Absolut Hibiscus

Ginger Beer

Retro Tang

Sparkle

Fresh Origins Micro Flowers

Stepping off the escalator one immediately 

         

      was drawn like a moth to the Wall of Flame.

 >>>>>>---------->>>>>>----------->>>>>>

----->>> Cassoulet Wall of Flame <<<-----

mini metal pails 
American Metalcraft
votives  Sterno Candle Lamp

The aromatic Five Bean Quail  + Apple Cassoulet 

(click for recipe)

hung in petit metal pails from 

a hand crafted wall of nails 

with shelves of votive candles 

running beneath each pail offering

 guests a warm fragrant mini entree.   

The candles radiated a beautiful glow... 

Welcoming Caterers to a Sensational Event. 

Notice that the votives were actually offset towards the back of the shelf so that it was not directly under the mini metal pails.  This was a safety factor to avoid the pails getting too hot and burning guests as they were taken off the nails. Cade shared with us the following with the following with us :

" After several tests at our shop, we determined that in order to hold the metal pails up there for as long as we did, (about 1.5 hours because we had 540 of them to put out as well as light that many candles, we needed to get them out early) that we needed to set the candles towards the back of the pail just a slight bit. By doing so, it was kept it hot yet manageable  Putting it directly under it centered for that long, made them a little too hot. Still works great, but a little unsafe for those guests that don't grab it by the handle but instead grab it by the bottom." 

Catering by Design Owner/Executive Chef Cade Nagy and CBD Creative Director Dan Smith began planning the Harmony Event back in June 2012 after touring the Hard Rock Cafe Facility.  Given the Rock & Roll backdrop the theme "Food, Love and Rock & Roll",  evolved into multi-leveled artistic visionary concepts for food and display.

You will be dazzled, delighted, blown away 

and amazed at the creative genius 

of the CBD team.  So sit back,
pour your self a glass of wine 

or make your own version 

of a "Flower Power " 

Cocktail

and enjoy the party. 

paint cans:  Maryland Plastics
             item # MPI00956

Note the forks and napkins displayed in paint trays.
Economical flower arrangements
and paint brushes were accented 
to match each of the 3 different 
colored food displays.

{ with a lot of hard work, 

     many hands, 

     extensive planning 

   and great organization! }

Volunteers Chef Andrew Crossan, CuisinEtc NYC, 
Deb DeBella, Owner, Elegant Touch, Altamont, NY
get kitchen instructions 
from Harmony Event Lead Chef Jeff Snow, Owner +  Exec Chef 
from Catering Creations, Omaha Nebraska

Several caterBuzz members
volunteered as kitchen crew 
during the Catersource Harmony event.

as with any event, but especially one of this size,
the kitchen and prep staff 
were a whirl of organized activity.

YELLOW SUBMARINE

BURIED ALIVE IN THE BLUES

PURPLE HAZE

A Self service fruited water bar on one end of alcoholic bar.
is a TeRRiFic upsell for your next event.
NO waiting at a busy bar for a refreshing glass of water.
Beverage Dispenser:  
American Metalcraft
 Malibu Mist Imprintable Bar Glasses:  
EMI Yoshi 

boxes and boxes of EMI YOSHI Malibu Mist Square Glasses
filled the top of the Bar before setup

Food, Love and Rock & Roll

cool Chef toy:  smoking gun from Chef Rubber

Wouldn't be a Retro "Partee" without someone smoking something... so how about these smokin' magic mushrooms !

Ham + Egg Pizza
Flatbread, Smoked Leg of Pork, Crispy Mustard Greens,
Fried Quail Egg, Red Hot Hollandaise
meat smoked on southern pride smoker

 Mini Pizza Boxes: JB Prince

Pizza boxes had custom name label
indicating the variety of pizza being served.
When you opened the box up on the inside was
fun quote from famous red neck celebrities.

Cade and Ingrid Nagy, Catering by Design, Denver have been producing over the top events for their clients for many years,  The Harmony 2013 at the Hard Rock Party was Catering by Design's 6th year of crafting and implementing the Catersource and Event Solutions Signature Monday Night Event.   It's challenging enough catering for 1700 plus attendees, transporting staff and ingredients from a Denver commissary to an offsite Vegas Club kitchen {not to mention having flights cancelled due to snow}, utilizing volunteers mixed with seasoned staff members.  HOWEVER, catering to Caterers from all over the world is an extremely daunting task that many would be overwhelmed by.  Not Cade nor Ingrid - both were the picture of calm, cool and organized event professionals! And as you can see, the excitement was contagious.

 CBD Owners Cade and Ingrid Nagy review menu
and procedures at pre event staff meeting.

Smiling, enthusiastic staff proud of their accomplishments !!
... the excitement was contagious!!

Below is a sneak preview of the Spin Art Station 

CBD designed + created 

on the Top Level of Hard Rock.

Stay tuned for Part 2 blog coverage 

of the Catersource and Event Solutions 2013 Signature Monday Night Event

the TOP LEVEL EXPERIENCE 

Here's a teaser of what's to come:

The Art of the Cocktail

Soul Kitchen

Spin Art Salads and Desserts

The Joy of Casseroles and MORE...

SPIN ART TIE DYE SALAD STATION 
spin a groovy design right 
on your plate with 
brightly colored sugar paints
     LOVE LOVE LOVE  
 the awesome tie dye lycra tablecloth 
  and tie dye roses!!   

Hi, I'm Lisa Teiger, founder and forum moderator of caterBuzz, owner of cuisinEtc Catering and Special Events,  a boutique NYC catering concern, a food stylist, culinary fashionista and roving caterBuzz catering reporter, coming to you from NYC but always going beyond !!!  

We hope that you will consider caterBuzz as your traveling eye for the inquisitive professional catering guys and gals around the globe.  Sharing and learning from each other as only like minded professional caterers can do, through pictures, stories, questions and answers, available here on www.caterBuzz.com and also on our facebook caterBuzz group page, a private forum for the experienced professional catering community.

        

Credits:

Harmony at the Hard Rock was 
Produced by 
Executive Producer Cade Nagy 
and Creative Director Dan Smith 
in conjunction with Catersource
at the 2013 Catersource Convention and Tradeshow

Venue:
Hard Rock Cafe, Las Vegas

CaterBuzz.com Blogger Team:  

Lisa Teiger, QueenBee, caterBuzz.com

   Owner, CuisinEtc Catering and Events NYC

Dianne Evans, Ops Manager, caterBuzz.com

   Owner, Best Catered Events, Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Look for the sources for unique and creative products

provided by the Catersource sponsors for the Harmony event. 

Here's you go....

American Metalcraft

Welcome Beverage: trays

Whiskey Tango Pizza: delivery bags and trays,

milk cans, stanchion and rope

Soul Kitchen: cones, risers, lights

Joy of Casseroles: balti dish, bowls, skillets

Wall of Flame: stainless pails

Platters, risers, bowls throughout

Water dispensers and all floral vessels

SternoCandleLamp 

Wall of Flame: candles

Jam Session: flameless candles

Magic Mushrooms: torches, lighters

Soul Kitchen: candles, chafers

Fuel for all stations, candles throughout

CambroManufacturing 

Wall of Flame and Soul Kitchen: Cambro Cart Plus

Art of the Cocktail: Lexan boxes

PreGel America 

Whiskey Tango Pizza: peanut butter gelato coating

Art of the Cocktail: fruit bases

Joy of Casseroles: gelato coatings

Southern Pride Booth 1335

Southern Pride’s smokers used for these stations:

Whiskey Tango Pizza Company, Legends of

Rock, CbD World Tour, Soul Kitchen and Joy of

Casseroles

EMI Yoshi 

All barware

Legends of Rock, Soul Kitchen and

Magic Mushrooms: forks

CbD World Tour: mini serviceware, spoons

Spin Art and Joy of Casseroles: plates and forks

VerTerraDinnerware

Jam Session: Aspenware forks and plates

Bar Snacks: Plates

Chef Rubber 

Seasonings, salts, food pastes, glucose, sour

cream powder, smoking guns and wood chips

Pernod Ricard absolut.com

Absolut Cherrykran, Absolut Mandarin, Absolut

Citron, Absolut Kurant, Absolut Hibiskus, Absolut

Mandarin, Absolut Vodka, Beefeater Gin, Jameson

Whiskey, Seagrams White Rum

MY  Drap 

All cloth napkins at food stations

Backdrops Beautiful Booth 513

Legends of Rock: custom backdrop

SmartBarProducts 

Custom portable bars

Fresh Origins Booth 2536

Edible flowers, microgreens, herbs,

greens at all stations

J.B. PrinceCompany 

Whiskey Tango Pizza: boxes,

Sphere container, stirrers, frosting tubes, skewers

Red Bird Farms Booth 1133

Whiskey Tango Pizza, Joy of Casseroles and

Soul Kitchen: chicken

Maryland Plastics 

Paint cans

PortaBeer Booth

Keg PortaDrafts

MayeshWholesale Florist

All flowers

Ellis IslandCasino & Brewery

Beer 

National IceCarving Association
Ice wall, specialty ice cubes for Welcome drink;

ice bins for Art of the Cocktail

Champagne Creative Group